Opinion | US coronavirus lawsuits pick at the scabs of China’s ‘century of humiliation’

The emotional scars of the opium wars and bullying by colonial powers resonate among ordinary Chinese in a way the West does not fully appreciate

The lawsuits, which have little hope of succeeding in a US court but are filed anyway for domestic political reasons, are a dangerous provocation

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 3:00am, 20 May 2020Updated: 3:31am, 20 May 2020

In April, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against China for alleged acts of irresponsibility over the Covid-19 pandemic. He charged that Chinese officials “are responsible for the enormous death, suffering and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians”.

Since then, many other lawsuits, including class actions that would represent thousands of people and businesses, have been filed in places like California and Florida. None of these suits stands much chance of moving forward in US courts due to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which places strong barriers against suing a foreign state.

So why are these suits being filed? Largely for domestic political reasons. They are coming in a US election year, and conservative politicians want to be seen as tough on China, in part to divert attention away from the deplorable failure of the Trump administration in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic in the US.

Regardless of their motives, those filing these suits may be starting a much bigger fight than they are bargaining for, in part because they do not appreciate how their actions appear through the lens of Chinese national memory.

Most Americans did not know anything about the ‘century of humiliation’ narrative, much less its emotional power

The sharp reaction in China to demands for reparations reflects a deeply felt national narrative about the “century of humiliation”. It is a century that began with the opium wars in the 1800s and lasted up to the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

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